Cleaning and skin care products are used commonly and often are in the form of viscous and semi-solid compositions such as gels, pastes, cream, and lotions. Such cleaning and skin care products and compositions (hereinafter such viscous and semi-solid compositions are generally referred to as "gel compositions") can be packaged in containers having a variety of shapes, such as cylinders, bowls, rectangles, triangles, squares, and others, with snap-on friction or hinged lids. In conventional use, the lid is removed from the product container and the user dips into the gel composition either directly with the fingers or with an implement such as a sponge, dish cloth or face cloth (hereinafter simply referred to as "sponge"). The gel composition which adheres to or is extracted by the fingers or sponge is then mixed with water to form a wash solution or, more commonly, it is applied directly to the surface to be cleaned, whether it be a hard surface such as dishware or to one's body. Although this conventional method for dispensing the composition from the container is effective, it does not address or solve all of the difficulties associated with dispensing gel compositions from such conventional containers. For example, it is quite difficult to control the amount of composition that is taken from the container on the fingers or the sponge when dipping directly into the gel composition in an open container. This can lead to excessive use or waste of the gel composition. Also, in dishwashing applications, loose food particles in the gel composition, which can adhere to the sponge and can slough off into the dishwashing gel when the user reaches back into the container for additional gel, are aesthetically undesirable and are very difficult then to extract from the gel. Further, a gel composition in a conventional container or package can smear onto the inside surface of the lid during shipment and handling of the product, which can make subsequent handling of the lid during product use both messy and aesthetically unacceptable. Another difficulty with conventional packages and with the conventional dispensing method is the tendency for the wet sponge, if placed after use onto the surface of the gel composition in the container, to sink into the gel and to become excessively adhered thereto, which results in difficulty in extracting the sponge and product waste during the next use.
The present invention significantly reduces or eliminates these difficulties in dispensing gel compositions from their containers.